Feedset couplings are presently used in feeding tubes in order to connect a supply source with a feeding tube. Feedset couplings typically include a male adapter that mates with a female receptacle. Many such couplings do not include integrated automatic shut off valves. When a coupling becomes accidentally disconnected, such as when incidental tension is applied to the feeding system, the tube feeding can continue flowing uninterrupted from the supply source. Additionally, contents from the patient's gastrointestinal tract can backflow uninterrupted from the patient. This leads to a number of problems, such as loss of tube feeding, loss of medication, loss of time in getting the necessary daily amount of calories into a patient, compromised patient health, clean up, poor sleeping due to wetness and hunger, and potentially patient aspiration on the spilled tube feeding.
Some supply systems include alarms that signal when a feeding set is “free flowing.” However, these alarm systems only work if the feeding set becomes disconnected from the pump, not if the coupling becomes disconnected. Some manufacturers have tried to prevent the feedset coupling from becoming disconnected. These devices can cause the feeding tube to be dislodged from the patient entirely, leading to additional problems.